Here's all you need to know about the Browns' quarterback situation: Since 1999, when the team returned to Cleveland, they have had 26 starting quarterbacks.

Twenty-six.

The list, which is one of the saddest things you'll ever see, includes first-round picks -- both drafted and signed (Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Johnny Manziel, Trent Dilfer, Jason Campbell, Robert Griffin III) -- undrafted free agents (Kelly Holcomb, Thad Lewis, Brian Hoyer, Connor Shaw, Austin Davis), and everyone in between, including 2016 rookie Cody Kessler, who started eight games as a rookie -- and went 0-8.

In fact, out of those 26 starters only one has a winning record as the Browns' quarterback: Brian Hoyer went 10-6 during his two years in Cleveland, but the team chose not to re-sign him after the 2014 season.

Instead, the Browns traded up in the first round to take Johnny Manziel, who is one of the biggest disappointments in recent NFL draft history. And after cutting ties with him in March 2016, and stumbling through a 1-15 record last season, the team used a 2017 second-round pick on the latest face-of-the-franchise candidate, quarterback DeShone Kizer.

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As often happens when a team desperate for a quarterback ends up drafting one early, the head coach assures everyone that the youngster won't be thrown into the fire and preaches patience while they make the transition from college to the NFL. But second-year coach Hue Jackson may not have that kind of time. He won just once during his inaugural season, though that had little to do with his coaching abilities and mostly an indictment on the sorry state of the franchise that a revamped front office inherited.

But he also plays for a man in owner Jimmy Haslam who can be incredibly impatient. Since hiring Jackson and a front office that includes general manager Sashi Brown and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, Haslam has reined in his impulse to fire people. But how long can he keep that up if the losing continues?

"We're very realistic about where we are," Haslam said early in training camp. "We're going to be patient and we're going to do it right. We're going to build through the draft, selectively use free agency and not take shortcuts and try to produce a team that will consistently win games."

That's the plan, one that requires time but also appears to be on track. Of course, all the arm-waving is meaningless if the Browns don't win football games, which brings us back to the quarterback situation.

Of the three starters from last year -- RG3, Josh McCown and Kessler -- only Kessler remains. He is joined on the depth chart by Texans castoff Brock Osweiler, who was acquired in a trade this offseason; Kevin Hogan, who began the '16 season on the practice squad; and Kizer.

If ever there was a perfect situation for a rookie to earn the starting job, Cleveland appears to be it. That may sound silly when you say it out loud, but one of the biggest concerns with putting a young quarterback on the field is protecting him. The Browns' offensive line was atrocious a season ago but they will be much-improved in '17 after signing center JC Tretter and guard Kevin Zeitler in the offseason. There's also the running game, which features Isaiah Crowell, who rushed for 952 yards in '16 (4.8 YPC) and caught 40 passes coming out of the backfield. Crowell ranked eighth in value-per-play among all running backs, according to Football Outsiders, which is all the more impressive given that Cleveland's offense was the league's second-worst, ahead of only the Jets.

Questions remain at wide receiver and tight end, but the team signed Kenny Britt to replace Terrelle Pryor, and he'll team with 2016 first-rounder Corey Coleman, who had a disappointing rookie campaign. There's also the Browns' third first-round pick, tight end David Njoku, whose athleticism has drawn comparisons to Jimmy Graham.

So, yes, the Browns are younger, faster, stronger -- and more inexperienced -- than previous versions of this team. That's all part of the plan to fix the culture of losing in Cleveland. There's still a lot to do and realistically, if Cleveland wins six games in 2017 Jackson should be up for Coach of the Year honors. But knowing that the Browns remain in full-on rebuild mode, there's really no reason not to give Kizer the keys to the offense and see what happens.

Kessler was serviceable as a rookie, but he certainly didn't show enough promise to keep the Browns from drafting Kizer, who was fourth quarterback selected after first-rounders Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. And if Kizer isn't the solution, the organization can turns its efforts to finding its next franchise quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft, which could be one of the best classes to come along in a decade.

In simple terms: As long as a franchise is without its franchise quarterback, losing will become commonplace.

Kizer struggled during a scrimmage the week before the Browns' preseason opener, but it's worth remembering that a year ago, the Eagles were telling anybody that would listen that Sam Bradford was the starter and first-round pick Carson Wentz, who was coming from an FCS school, would watch from the bench. A few weeks later, those talking points went out the window when Bradford was traded to Minnesota and Wentz was elevated to the top of the depth chart.

In Cleveland, Kizer has been glued to Jackson's hip at times in an effort to expedite the learning process.

"I will continue to [spend extra time with Kizer],'' Jackson said during OTAs in May. "I have to find out probably more about him than I do any of the guys. He's not going to get too far away from me, I know that. He's done a good job. He just has to keep getting better. He's improved from day to day."

And on the first day of training camp, Jackson continued to pump up his rookie quarterback.

"Yes, he is [coming along faster than expected],'' the coach said in late July. "He's understanding the offense. I could take you back to his days at OTAs -- he struggled calling the plays. The words were a lot simpler. The language was a different. I did not see as much of that today. That is improvement. Obviously, he made some good throws and did not turn the ball over. Those things are good. Again, it's just one day. We are not going to make decisions on guys in one day. We have a lot of work to do."

And while Jackson is smart to manage expectations, especially before Kizer has even seen the field during a preseason game, the Browns need to know what they have. Not because they're in win-now mode -- the reality is they aren't, as they continue to rebuild -- but because with their arsenal of draft picks, they can not afford to miss out on a true franchise quarterback. In 2004, the Browns passed on Ben Roethlisberger for Kellen Winslow. They won more than seven games once since that blunder and haven't made the playoffs since 2002.

"Let's ask [Kizer] to do the things he can right now and not ask him to do things he can't," the coach said over the weekend. "He's done a good job. [The scrimmage] was eye-opening for him. He shared that for you all. I think it was a great experience for him, though. But he'll grow from that experience really fast the more he plays just because being in that environment with your teammates in front of fans in a different stadium, you've got to get used to that."

Put another way: What the Browns have to lose by giving Kizer the job (games, basically) far outweighs what they could miss out on if they don't (a transcendent passer).